How to Enhance Your Prayer Life to Increase Generosity

Is there something about yourself that you would like to change? Some of us want to become fitter, stronger, and healthier. Others want to change their eating or spending habits or become less angry or resentful. We all have something about ourselves that we would like to change. But what about wanting to become a more generous person? Have you ever asked yourself “How do I become more generous?”

The answer lies in understanding what determines our capacity to be generous.

Within each of us is a basket of apples. This basket of apples represents our capacity for generosity towards others. It determines how generous with our time, our actions, and our resources we will be. We are all unique, and so too is the size and capacity of our baskets.

As we go through our day, we gradually give out our apples. A friend is going through a tough time and needs our help, we lose an apple. Our child needs help with their homework, we lose a couple of apples. Our boss needs us to do a task, we lose a few more apples.

Eventually, we notice that our supply of apples is dwindling. At this point we do one of two things. We either engage in self-care or we engage in burnout.

If we engage in self-care, we seek ways to replenish our apples. This could be by having coffee with a friend, reading a book, or going to the gym. We all have people in our lives or activities we enjoy that refresh us and replenish our basket of apples.

If we engage in burnout, we decide to use up all our apples. Consequently, we tend to withdraw from activities and people until we have refreshed our basket of apples. We might take a sick day at work, book a holiday, or isolate ourselves in a room.

Instead of relying on food, substances, activities, or people to refresh us and our apple supply, what if there was a better way to replenish our basket of apples?

I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5 NASB.

Our relationship with God is the key that unlocks our ability to bear fruit in our lives. The more fruit we have, the more apples we have in our baskets to give to others. Spending time in relationship with God refreshes, strengthens, and enables us to be more generous to others. When we are apart from Him, our capacity for generosity diminishes.

For a relationship to flourish, it needs time, commitment, and maintenance. Jesus models to us throughout the Gospels the importance of maintaining an intimate relationship with God.

Now when evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city had gathered at the door. And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was. And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and prayed there for a time. Simon and his companions eagerly searched for Him; and they found Him and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” He said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may also preach there; for this is why I came.” And He went into their synagogues preaching throughout Galilee, and casting out the demons. Mark 1:32-39 NASB

Like us, Jesus still required sleep, and He also had a basket of apples that needed to be replenished. After spending a day preaching, evangelising, and performing healings and exorcisms, He goes to sleep, and after waking He spends time with God. After this, He goes back to preaching, evangelising, and performing various healings and exorcisms.

Even Jesus needed to spend time in intimate relationship with God. He needed that time with God to be refreshed and strengthened. To have His basket of apples replenished so that He could continue to be generous to those who needed Him the most.

If we want to be more generous, we need to be more generous with our time with God.

It is not necessarily the quantity of time that we spend with God, but the quality of time that is important.

Both as a patient and a doctor, I have noticed something that can occur during a visit to a psychologist. If we come in and share all our life burdens, the psychologist can zero in on a solution to one of the problems we shared but not address the underlying patterns of thinking that are impacting our mood. The quantity of time spent in the consult did not provide the necessary quality and hence desired results. This is because we used up all our time talking about our problems and not addressing them.

One of biggest ways we spend time with God is through prayer. How we spend our prayer time with God is more important than the amount of time we spend. Especially, if we want to come out of our prayer time refreshed, strengthen and with more apples in our basket. If we want to be more generous, we need to become more intentional with our prayer time with God. We can do this by changing how we view our prayer time with God.

When we begin our Christian journey, we approach God as if He is a vending machine. We insert prayer, choose our desired outcome, and wait for it to come out. After a while we realise that God does not always answer our prayers by giving us what we want. As a result, like Solomon, we grow in humility and realise we do not know everything, so we simply ask God to give us what He thinks we need. As we journey with God more, we come to realise that life is not all about us, there are other people in our lives, so we start making prayer requests for them as well.

Instead of jumping straight to making a request of God, imagine if we reflected on all His provision in our lives first. We recalled every blessing we had received, every answered prayer, everything that God has provided to us so far in life. Then we gave him thanks.

When we practice this during our time with God it takes our mindset from one of poverty to one of blessing and abundance. Instead of approaching God from a place of need we approach Him from a place of provision. When we do, we become refreshed by the truth that we are loved and provided for by God. Suddenly, our basket of apples does not look as empty as we thought.

Because we tend to approach God as a vending machine, we think of His responses as only being an answer to a request. This results in a one-sided conversation that quickly ends leaving little room for a response from God.

And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. Luke 22:41-43 NASB

Occasionally, patients come to see me, and they sit down and share with me their perceived symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment and ask me to provide what they request. They have come with the answer to their problem already worked out, they just want me to provide it for them. During this conversation, I often struggle to interject and ask any questions. Instead, I must wait for the opportunity to do so.

Jesus was prepared to accept any answer from God, He just wanted to talk to God about His thoughts and feelings. Jesus demonstrates to us something important. Instead of approaching God in prayer with the answer, we should approach God in prayer and wait for the answer. Because God's answer is an answer that will always lead to strengthening and refreshment in our hearts.

God’s answer can come in many forms. He can provide us positive affirmation by reminding us of His love and care for us or fill us with a sense of peace. Sometimes He asks us a probing question that triggers growth. Other times, He provides us with the provision that we need in our lives.

Whatever God’s answer is, it is always one that refreshes and strengthens us. His answers strengthen and refresh us so that our baskets can grow bigger, and we have more apples to be able to give. Then we can become more generous towards others.

So, we can increase our generosity by enhancing our prayer life in two ways:

1. By spending time with God reflecting on His generous provision in our lives.

2. By taking the time to listen to God’s response, because it will always strengthen and refresh our hearts.

If we enhance our prayer life this way, we will be strengthened and more refreshed in life and grow in our capacity for generosity towards others.

Reflection

Reflect on a time when you were generous to someone. Maybe you were generous with your time, resources or both. Was generosity the value that motivated your actions or was it another value? Once you've identified the value, reflect on how being generous to others can help you live out this value in life.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for your love, grace and mercy. Thank you for the many blessings that you pour out into my life. Thank you that all of this has been freely given and received. Help me to be freely generous to others just as you have been with me.

Affirmation

The outpouring of God's love is far more than I can contain, and its overflow is meant for those around me.

Action

The next time you pray, instead of saying Amen, take the time to wait for a response instead. You might be amazed at the conversation that unfolds between you and God.